Course Orientation
About the Orientation
In addition to introducing some core concepts for this course, the orientation also serves as your guide to the structure of the course and to our online learning environment.
Objectives
At the successful completion of the Course Orientation, students should be able to:
- navigate between this course text and the Canvas course management system;
- articulate expectations about how and what will be learned in this online course;
- understand how and what instructors expect students to learn in this online course;
- locate key information about the course, including assignments, due dates, technical information, places to get help, and course policies;
- understand course policies, including academic integrity; and
- communicate with instructors and fellow students.
The next page in this lesson outlines the necessary steps to perform to successfully complete this orientation.
Questions?
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to The Lounge forum. (To access the forums, return to Canvas via the Canvas link. Once in Canvas, you can navigate to the Modules tab and then navigate to the Course Orientation lesson.) While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
Checklist
Each lesson in the course has a list of "Steps to Complete." This checklist always appears on the second page of each lesson.
To get started with the course, please follow the required steps below. The Course Orientation is one week in length. (See the Calendar in Canvas for specific due dates.) You may find it useful to print this page so that you can follow along with the directions.
| Step | Activity | Access/Directions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read through the Course Orientation. | You are in the Course Orientation online content now. Click on the "Next Page" link to continue reading. |
| 2 | Be sure your Canvas account is configured the way you want it. | See the Course Management System section of the Orientation. |
| 3 | Read the Instructor Information, then introduce yourself to me and to your classmates using "The Lounge" discussion forum. | The Instructor Information is located in the Resource menu. "The Lounge" is a discussion forum in Canvas. |
| 4 | If you haven't already done so, carefully review the course syllabus to learn about the course and its requirements. | The Syllabus is located under the link in the main menu. |
| 5 | When you are finished with the orientation, you can Begin the first Lesson! | Click on the Lesson 1 link to begin the course. |
Learning Environments
Course Website and Canvas
Registered students in the online Penn State courses that use this text need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:
- Course Website: The course website consists of lessons, each including pages of text, graphics, and activities. Activities prompt readers to explore selected websites, to download data and/or software, or other adventures. Registered students may also be prompted to navigate to Canvas to take practice quizzes and graded quizzes.
- Canvas: Penn State's enterprise course management system. In Canvas, registered students consult course calendars, communicate with instructors and fellow students, submit project reports, receive individual project critiques from instructors, take online quizzes and a final exam, and check assignment scores and course grades.
Note that a link to Canvas appears in the main menu above. In Canvas, registered students will find links back to this course website under the Modules tab.
Course Website
This course website is presented in an open-source content management system called Drupal (for information about Drupal, visit http://drupal.org/). One advantage to presenting the text in Drupal is that we can enable registered students to comment and ask questions directly on text pages. Another advantage is that Drupal allows us to publish the text openly for the benefit of anyone who has access to the Internet, regardless of their ability to pay tuition or buy an expensive printed textbook (this is applicable to certain courses in our program).
The Drupal content for this course is broken down into the following sections:
Syllabus
The syllabus links out to course description, and an account of what is expected of each student.
Orientation
The orientation familiarizes registered students with the learning environments used to conduct Penn State courses.
Lessons
- Links to lessons.
- When you click on a lesson link, links to the pages that make up the lesson are revealed.
- Navigate between pages using the links at the bottom of each page, OR select a page from the menu.
- Each lesson includes an overview page, checklist page, multiple content pages, and a summary.
Canvas
A direct link into Canvas, Penn State's course management system.
Resources
- Instructor Information - contact and other information about your instructor.
- Program Home Page - links out to the Penn State Online Geospatial Education website for program information.
- Library Resources - links out to Penn State library resources specific to Geography.
- Help - links to helpful contacts for registered Penn State students and other users.
Login
To log in, click on the "login" link. Log in with your Penn State Access ID and password.
Printing Options
- Note the "print" link on each page.
- The "print" link compiles pages or lessons into a single HTML document. The link on the first page of each lesson compiles the entire lesson into a single HTML document.
Course Management System
About Canvas, General Orientation
Following is information about Canvas, Penn State's Learning Management System (LMS). In Canvas, registered students may consult course calendars; communicate with instructors, teaching assistants, and fellow students; submit assignments; receive feedback from the instructor and teaching assistant; take online quizzes and surveys; and check assignment scores and course grades.
Quick Guide for Students
If you are new to Canvas, it is strongly recommended that you complete the PSU: Canvas Student Orientation.
You may also want to review the Canvas Student Guide to acclimate yourself further, and watch the following video:
Video: Canvas Overview for Students (3:29)
Credit: Canvas Overview for Students from Canvas LMS.
In this video, you will learn how to navigate your Dashboard, courses, and Global Navigation Menu in Canvas.
When you log in to Canvas, the first thing you see is the Dashboard, which provides a high-level overview of your current courses. The Dashboard can be displayed in three different viewing options.
Card View displays a course card for each of your favorite courses. Each card can include clickable icons for Assignments, Announcements, Discussions, and Files. List View displays an agenda view of graded items from your courses, as well as any non-graded items your instructors designate for a course To Do list. You can also add your own items to the agenda.
"Recent Activity View" displays a stream of recent notifications from all your courses, including announcements, conversations, assignments, discussions, and peer reviews.
You can also access the course grades page from the Course Card and Recent Activity Views by clicking the View Grades button. The Grades page displays grades for all of your courses. To view grade details for a specific course, click the name of the course.
To view a course, click the Courses link in Global Navigation and click the name of the course you want to view. The course opens to the home page set by your instructor.
You can use the Course Navigation links, breadcrumb navigation, or the sidebar to navigate to different areas of the course.
The sidebar includes a To Do list that displays links to announcements and other items that require action in your courses, such as assignments, quizzes, discussions, and pages.
If your course includes student groups, you can view a list of your groups in Course Groups. Click the group name to view the group homepage. View recent assignment feedback in Recent Feedback. Click the assignment name to view feedback in the Submission Details page.
Canvas displays a Global Navigation Menu that gives you direct access to your courses and other areas of Canvas.
Click the Account link to log out of Canvas, specify your notification preferences, upload and view personal files, modify your user settings, manage ePortfolios, obtain a QR code to log in to the Student app, view global announcements, and enable a high-contrast user interface.
Click the Dashboard link to return to the Canvas Dashboard. Click the Courses link to quickly access your favorite courses and view a list of all your courses. Click the Groups link to access groups in which you are enrolled or view a list of all your groups.
Click the Calendar link to view your personal calendar and course calendars. Click the Inbox link to view and send messages to your instructors and peers within Canvas. Click the History link to view a list of course content and content areas you have viewed within the last three weeks.
Click the Help link to access help resources for your institution.
This guide covered an Overview of Canvas for students.
Supported Browsers and Computer Configuration
The Canvas Help Center provides extensive, up-to-date documentation on making sure your computer is configured properly for Canvas. Failure to follow these recommendations may result in significant issues while viewing materials, taking assessments, and using drop boxes. Use of unsupported browsers is at your own risk.
Your Canvas Profile and Notification Preferences
Your Canvas Profile and Notification Preferences
Your Canvas Profile and User Settings let you control your personal information in Canvas. Take a few minutes to personalize your Canvas profile and set your Notification Preferences by following the instructions below.
| Task | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Personalize your Canvas Profile |
|
| If you use PSU OneID |
Students who are enrolled with OneID will not receive emails automatically from Canvas due to not having PSU email access. We advise that students set up a personal email address for notifications.
|
| Set your notification preferences |
You have the option to select how, when, and for what information you would like to receive notifications. This can be very helpful when keeping track of items such as discussion posts, assignment due dates, and exams. Visit Canvas Notification Preference Support and follow the instructions for setting up your notification preferences. The video below this table provides additional information. |
| Set your timezone |
|
| Download the Canvas App | For information on using the app by device, please see the following: |
Video Tutorial: How do I manage my Canvas notification settings? (3:24)
Narrator: How do I manage my Canvas notification settings?
In global navigation, click the Account link. Then click the Notifications link.
On the Notifications Settings page, you can manage how you receive notifications for your Canvas account, and/or manage how you receive notifications for individual courses.
A banner describes the settings you are managing. Another banner indicates the times when daily and weekly notifications will be delivered. To dismiss a banner message, click the close icon.
By default, the "settings for" dropdown menu displays the Account option. Account-level notification settings apply to all of your Canvas courses; however, any course-specific notification settings override account notification settings.
You can view your current account-level settings. Account-level notification types are listed by category. There are notifications for course activities, discussions, conversations, groups, scheduling, and conferences.
You can also view your contact methods, such as email addresses, and push notifications for mobile devices.
Each notification has a default delivery frequency setting. To view the current notification delivery frequency for a notification type and contact method, hover over the notification icon.
To view details for a notification, hover the cursor over the notification name. View details such as the activities that trigger the notification.
Each notification is set to a default setting.
To change the notification for a contact method, locate the notification and click the icon for the contact method.
To receive a notification right away, select the "Notify immediately" option. These notifications may be delayed by up to one hour in case an instructor makes additional changes, which prevents you from being spammed by multiple notifications in a short amount of time.
To receive a daily notification, select the "Daily summary" option. The date and time of your daily notifications are posted in a banner at the top of the notification settings page.
To receive a weekly notification, select the "Weekly summary" option. The date and time of your weekly notifications are posted in a banner at the top of the notification settings page.
If you do not want to receive a notification, select the "Notifications off" option.
Unsupported notification types display the unsupported icon. You cannot manage unsupported notifications.
If you have enabled "Push Notifications" in the Canvas student mobile app on an Android device or on an IOS device, you can manage your settings in the "Push Notification" column. Push Notifications can only be sent to your mobile device right away or not at all. Daily and weekly notification options are not supported.
Some categories include limited availability for push notifications. For full details about supported notifications for push notifications, refer to the Canvas notifications resource document.
This guide covered "How to manage my Canvas notification settings.
Roles and Responsibilities
Registered Students
As a registered student, your role is to read lessons, complete activities and quizzes, produce and submit original project reports, respond to surveys, and complete a final exam on schedule. The schedule of assignment due dates is published under the Calendar tab in your Canvas section. In addition, you should read and participate in discussions that take place in Canvas discussion forums as well as on particular pages of the course text. Students who contribute to discussions and help other students are the ones who gain the most from the class experience. The amount of time you invest in your class will vary depending on the number of academic credits you will earn. At Penn State, one academic credit is equivalent to approximately 40 hours of student activity. Thus, a student in a 3-credit, 10-week class should plan to invest about twelve hours of study each week. Although there are weekly assignment deadlines, you are typically free to study at places and times that are most convenient to you.
Instructors
Instructors may include a lead instructor and one or more teaching assistants. Lead instructors follow all course communications, including course mail and discussion forums in Canvas and comments posted to pages of the course text. Lead instructors reply to most within 24 hours. Some questions are purposefully left for responses by fellow students. Also, instructor responses may be delayed during announced absences. Instructors correct and revise courseware as needed. Instructors assess student attitudes at the beginning, middle, and end of the course and share interpretations of those assessments with students. Most important, lead instructors oversee teaching assistants' evaluation of student work, check and upload project scores to the Canvas grade book, calculate final course grades, and submit grades to the University registrar.
Assistant instructors evaluate student project reports. They prepare detailed critiques and itemized scores in response to every individual report. Assistant instructors may also propose revisions to the scoring rubrics, which guide evaluation of each project assignment.
Others
Others are involved as well, depending on whether you are registered through the World Campus or some other Penn State campus. World Campus students can get technical support from the Outreach Help Desk and other assistance from World Campus Adult Learner Enrollment Services. Students registered at University Park and other Penn State campus locations can get Canvas-related technical support from the Canvas Help Desk. Links to these helpful services are available to registered students via links in your Canvas sections.
Communication
Meaningful interactions among students and instructors are the hallmark of a successful online class. Canvas supports several types of communication, as described below.
In addition, registered students have Penn State e-mail accounts (<Access Account ID>@psu.edu) that they need to monitor for any official communications that come from the University or from the Penn State World Campus.
Below is a list of communication tools available in Canvas. This course may or may not utilize all of the options listed.
Announcements
These are messages from your instructor that contain important information. Current announcements can be accessed through the Announcements link in Canvas. Announcements may highlight assignment due dates (also published in the course Calendar), lesson recaps, a preview of an upcoming lesson and other essential course information.
Inbox
The Inbox is the equivalent of e-mail in Canvas. It's great for a quick e-mail to another student, instructor, or a whole team. Keep in mind that the text editor is very minimal and does not have much formatting capability. Please use the Canvas Inbox only for private messages to instructors or fellow students.
- Need more help using course mail? Review the Canvas Student Guide section on the Inbox.
Discussions
Discussions allow students to interact with the instructor and other classmates. Threaded discussions allow multiple posts and replies. New posts appear in the Course Activity Stream page, so you will know when something has been posted.
- In general, questions and comments about project assignments and course content should be shared with the entire class via the discussion forums. That way, everyone can benefit from the discussion.
- Need more help using discussion forums? Review the Canvas Student Guide section on Discussions.
Note:
Whenever you post a message in a forum or send course mail, please use a descriptive subject line. Subject lines that include the gist of a question or comment increase the chances that students and instructors can retrieve the messages we're looking for. Poor subject lines, such as "Question" or "Lesson 1," are not very useful as search keywords. When replying to a prior message, consider whether or not the subject line should be altered to indicate the content of your reply!
Three Habits of Successful Learners
How to Succeed in an Online Course
Keep these tips in mind when preparing to be successful in an online course:
Treat online learning as you would a face-to-face class
You should devote at least the same amount of time to your online courses as you would to attending lectures on campus and completing assignments. Other good study habits, such as attending class (logging on) regularly and taking notes, are as important in an online course as in a lecture hall.
Intentionally schedule your time
You should devote 10-12 hours weekly to completing lesson readings and assignments. Your learning will be most effective when you engage with the course every day.
Engage, Engage, Engage
Take every opportunity to interact with the content, the instructor, and your classmates by completing assignments and participating in discussion forums and group activities!
Be organized and keep up
Keep in sync with what is happening in the course and stay on top of deadlines and upcoming assignments. If you fall behind, it can be difficult to catch up.
Ask for help
Ask for guidance when needed. Email the instructor directly through Canvas.
Other Resources
The links below will connect you with other resources to help support your successful online learning experience:
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Tips for Being a Successful World Campus Student
This website links to resources on everything from taking notes online to managing your time effectively. Please note that you must be a World Campus student to receive some of the support services mentioned on this website.
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Penn State World Campus Technology Resources
This website provides resources to help you learn to use technology, access Penn State tools, and purchase and download software.
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Penn State World Campus Blog
This blog features posts by Penn State staff and students on a variety of topics relevant to online learning. Learn from online students, alumni, and staff members about how you can get the most out of your online course experience.
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Penn State iStudy for Success!
The iStudy online learning tutorials are free to all Penn State students. They cover a broad range of topics, including online learning readiness, time management, stress management, and statistics - among many others. Check out the extensive list of topics for yourself to see what topics may be of most use to you!
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LinkedIn Learning at Penn State
This website provides access to an extensive free online training library, with tutorials on everything from creating presentations to using mobile apps for education. There is a wealth of information here - all provided free of charge to Penn State faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students.
Summary
This course Orientation is meant to prepare registered Penn State students for success in this online environment. It should also be informative for prospective students considering future enrollment at Penn State (or in online programs offered by other institutions, for that matter).
The Orientation described the two learning environments we use to deliver our online courses--the content management system called "Drupal" in which we present this text, and the password-protected course management system called "Canvas," in which registered students submit their assignments and receive feedback from instructors.
The Orientation also outlined the roles and responsibilities of students, instructors, and other groups involved in providing this outreach service, and described the assignments that registered students complete to earn academic credit. The lesson described the various modes of communication among registered students and instructors, and recommended three study habits that will maximize students' chances of having a satisfying educational experience.
Have you completed the Orientation?
Registered students should now review the Orientation checklist to make sure that they have completed all assigned tasks.
Ready to begin the course?
Click the Lesson 1 link.